Remember when Republicans used to make fun of Barack Obama for supposedly going on an “apology tour” of foreign countries? This argument was profoundly silly to rational people, which is why it was so popular among right-wingers. The “apology tour” nonsense was little more than an effort to gin up as much hatred as possible […]
The Secret Monopoly Making Everything More Expensive
A two-decade fight with monopoly power in the payment system has arrived at a moment of truth, boiling down to one simple question: Will the courts bless price-fixing? Let’s hope not. Last week, Demand Progress, American Economic Liberties Project, Consumer Reports, and Small Business Majority asked a federal court to reject a proposed antitrust settlement that would bless the Visa-Mastercard duopoly in credit-card payment services. The case, officially known as In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, grew out of a grievance merchants and consumers have nursed for decades that has curdled into something worse over…
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